Twilight
by Deans
Summary: When everything he ever cared about is taken away, Neji becomes a young boy with a heart clouded with twilight. Challenge: Strength as a theme. And Challenge: NejiTen in the beginnings of their friendship. One shot. :NejiTen:


**Twilight**

The sun burned brightly in the sky as twilight took over the last piece of his heart. Too soon had everything turned fuzzy and white as he felt the tears. The last tears he would be crying for years to come.

Neji was seven that day. His father would have been thirty-one as he sat in the shade beneath the cherry blossom and watched his son practice taijutsu, always there to correct him in a caring way when he faltered. His mother would have been twenty-nine and tending a garden not too far away, constantly glancing to her right to peek on her son's training while wearing the proud face you would expect from a mother.

Even this long after his father's death it had been hard to talk about him in past tense. Now as his mother lay beneath his tilted head, her body still as the night covering his heart, he would have to get used to talking of her that way too.

He wondered though, as he stared into her opened blue eyes that had lost all the answers, if his whole life would follow this same pattern of events. And he wished on the tear that fell stray into his mother's prefect eye to give him a moment of false hope, that he would find someone strong enough to protect him from his fate. He patted her face clean of his tears with his sleeve before standing up and running into the woods.

No one asked questions as the young boy ran past them and out of sight. With a courtyard full of Byakugans, there was no need to. They bowed their heads in honor as the sun burned on.

* * *

Not that there would be any particular person out there interested, but if you were searching for Hyuuga Neji at seven AM, two weeks and three days after his mother's death, you would find him sitting in the second row to the front of class at the Ninja Academy. And not that anyone noticed, but if you were to look in his direction and bare your eyes into the flesh rolling over his eyes, you could easily take him as a sleeping boy with great posture by mistake. But as it turns out, Neji was very much awake and paying attention to both the class and his thoughts.

"_This_ is how you hold your hand with a kunai in it," the teacher went on. "To throw it, flick your wrist to the right... like so... and--Neji! Do you see?"

"I see," Neji replied without opening his eyes. He held out his hand and demonstrated the technique on a non-existent kunai. In doing so, he recieved a stare from a student sitting beside him who had thought he'd been sleeping all class. This student smiled.

"Well then, very good, Neji," said the teacher before continuing his demonstration. Neji would have smirked at that moment if he wasn't so consumed in his own thoughts.

Like everyday, he remembered his parents and wondered what they would be doing right now if they were still alive. He imagined his mother cooking or talking to a few of her female branch member friends. He always pictured her with a smile on his face since those were the images of her that were burned into his head. Those, and the image of her when he last saw her. He also remembered his father every day, the memory of him as strong as if he was still alive and had seen Neji off to school that morning. He imagined his father writing in a scroll. Something he did very often when he was alive, but Neji never knew what he was writing. He'd ask once in a while and his father would respond "Very important work, my son," and continue writing after telling Neji to see if his mother needed help cooking. When he had those scrolls open, he always seemed distrac--

"Psst!" His thoughts were interrupted by the girl sitting beside him. He peeked an eye open to show that she had his attention. "Hi. You're Neji right?" He barely nodded. "My name's Tenten. I just wanted to let you know that I really like your eyes."

"Everyone says that. They're nothing special, believe me," he whispered back.

"They are, though. You can't use the Byakugan without them, right?" He rose his eyebrows to her. How did she know about the Byakugan? He'd never used it in class and she was just some little girl.

"That's right. How do you know--"

"My father told me of the famous bloodline limits of Konoha once. The Hyuuga's are the noble family of Konoha, he told me. The Uchiha's as well, but their bloodline limit isn't as strong as the Byakugan." He was sort of impressed by this. For a little kunoichi, she knew a lot.

"Yes. You're right." She smiled.

"Listen, after class--"

"Tenten! Please demonstrate to the class the kunai throwing technique that I just taught," said the teacher, catching her not paying attention.

"Um, hai," Tenten went to the front of the class and took the kunai. She took a deep breath and faced the target that the teacher always demonstrated on. She lifted her arm and held the kunai firmly. Then she flicked her wrist to the right and pulled her arm back for leverage. She released it and the class watched as it soared through the air and landed perfectly in the center of the target.

As she walked back to her seat, the teacher and class were speechless. Neji smirked. When she finally sat down, the class was applauding her for her perfect aim.

"Ok... Good job, Tenten," the teacher said and pulled the kunai from the target with some difficulty.

"So anyway, after class do you want to spar?" Tenten whispered to Neji. He smirked at her once again and nodded. Tenten smiled back and they both returned their attention on other things besides kunais.

There was a test on kunai techniques before class ended. Neji and Tenten both passed easily.

* * *

Gasping for breath, Tenten fell to the ground and lay on her back, not caring about all the dirt her clothes were picking up. Neji and his pride kept standing, panting just slightly.

"Wow, Neji," she said after catching enough air. "I knew you would be good since you come from a noble family, but you are amazing! I've never been beat so fast by someone my own age." He didn't doubt it one bit. Tenten was a strong kunoichi. He did, however, throw in a smirk because that's just what Neji does.

"And I've never had such a hard time beating someone my age. You are strong as well." Tenten smiled at this. She seemed to smile a lot at the things he said to her. It didn't happen often with people outside of his family and Neji liked it a lot.

"Its getting late, though. My parents are going to be angry with me. How about your's, Neji? Are they very strict with you?"

"..." He didn't know what to say to that. Should he tell her about his parents? She seemed nice enough, but he didn't want her to feel sorry for him. She's a girl and that's just what girls do.

"Neji?" Tenten tried to wake him from his daydream. His eyes returned to her and she saw some sort of emotion in them. It was the first time she'd seen anything like that in his eyes and even though they had just met earlier that day, she knew something was not right. "Forget about it, Neji. It doesn't matter. But do you want to do the same thing tomorrow after class as well? Or do you have something planned..."

"Sure," was all he said. He was relieved that she dropped the subject of his parents. It was like she knew it was bothering him.

"Alright then!" There was that smile again. "See you tomorrow." Tenten picked up her last stray weapon and walked out of the clearing in the woods.

A rare thing to see was Hyuuga Neji smiling. It was like all of his happiness escaped him with those last tears that fell onto his mother's face. Something even more rare was to see this boy cry. That's why as Neji stood there watching Tenten head in the direction of her home, he just stood there. He felt some sort of happiness within him after meeting this girl, his new friend. But at the same time he felt guilt for being happy, and this made him sad. It was a complicated string of emotions for a seven year old boy.

Neji stood there until the sun was fully set, just thinking and feeling out these emotions. Nothing made sense anymore and it seemed to him that everything looked better when you couldn't make them out. But the thing was, this was the first time he had felt something so strong within him in a long time. Even when his mother was still alive and it was just the two of them, Neji felt like he was going through life half asleep. So why was it that right when some little kunoichi decided to back flip into his life, he felt alive again?

It was a mystery to him and he liked it.

Neji walked home in the dark thinking of a girl who did so much to him by doing so little.

* * *

Years later, both Tenten and Neji graduated from the Ninja Academy. They were put in the same Genin team which made them both happy since they worked so well together. Tenten learned of Neji's parents the same night she had met him by asking her mother about it. She felt she understood him a little better after knowing, but she never brought it up.

Sparring was a ritual thing for the two. They would fight, point out each other's weaknesses, then sit back to back in silence for long periods of time. They never knew what the other was thinking and neither offered to tell. That would have been awkward because on the minds of the two ninja was usually each other.

Tenten became a weapon's master. She had perfect aim and she had a dream. To become strong like the legendary sannin, Tsunade. What drove her was the way flesh and metal danced together in the night, creating the most unique music you could ever hear. The way the wind would tell her stories as she flipped through it on a Sunday afternoon. The feeling that would clench around your heart after escaping a deadly attack.

Neji became the genius of his noble clan. He prefected many techniques that made him nearly unstoppable. And he, too, had a dream. To become so strong that he would never lose to anyone in a battle. What drove him was his past whispering encouraging words in his ear. The bird's song to him as he woke in the morning. And a girl who, for reasons beyond him, was always there for him.

He never did figure out what it was about Tenten that made her stay with him. After a long time he did figure out that he loved her. He told her one night after sparring when they were both fifteen. It was the first time they kissed and he thought she tasted like the rain.

Tenten was his strength and his drive. She was everything he wasn't and when she was in his arms, everything felt right. Not because he felt he could protect her from the big bad world. She didn't need that. When they came together, Neji was a wick and Tenten was his flame. He wasn't afraid to cry after seeing how strong the burn was.

One day when they were both seventeen, Tenten beat Neji for the first time. When he lost to her, he smiled.

The next day he asked her to marry him.

On the eve of their wedding, Tenten asked what he expected of her. She asked him why her, out of all the beautiful girls he could have had.

I have yet to meet a woman who could rival you in beauty, is what he told her. And besides, you are my air and my strength. What good is a fighter without his strength?

Tenten didn't cry when she heard this. Instead, she kissed him. She thought he tasted like twilight.

**Fin**

(Challenge: Strength as a theme.) AND (Challenge: NejiTen in the beginnings of their friendship.)

This was so complicated to write. I don't think I did so good with this one. But please review and tell me what to do better or what you liked/didn't like. You know what to do. Thanks!


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